Stepping on a Butterfly
by Qpidity
Summary: The marauders grew up and continued to do what they did best, but with one difference. Lily was never there to stop James. Instead, she fell into the arms of her long time friend, Severus, changing the events of history forever. AU! Dark!James, and Catherine Snape staring as the Girl Who Lived.


The marauders grew up and continued to do what they did best, but with one difference. Lily was never there to stop James. Instead, she fell into the arms of her long time friend, Severus, changing the events of history forever. AU! Dark!James, and Catherine Snape staring as the Girl Who Lived.

**By the way, I do not own any of the characters! The entire wizarding world is property of J. K. Awesomesauce Rowling. I could say I own Catherine Snape, but in all honesty she would not have been hatched in my imagination without her books.**

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Petunia Evans had always wanted a beautiful, bright-eyed little baby girl. She wanted a daughter for only one reason- to show her parents that she could do a better job raising a girl than they did.

Petunia always hated the favoritism that her parents showed Lily. Just because Lily could do a few odd tricks didn't mean she was a better daughter than Petunia, who worked year round to earn her parent's affections with grades, odd-jobs, and any extra-curricular she could get her fingers in. Her parents never noticed her efforts, even with Lily being so far away when the school year started.

Eventually, Petunia gave up trying to make her parents happy and simply married the first man who proposed to her out of high school. Vernon Dersley loved her with all of his heart, and she was certain that they would make a better family than her neglectful mother and father did. Spitefully, she 'forgot' to invite her sister to her wedding, knowing that she would simply end up taking the moment away from her special day.

Lily showed up anyway, wearing an engagement ring and holding arm of her long time friend from just down the block, Severus Snape. She claimed that her mother invited her because her letter must have gotten lost in the post. Being a witch, she didn't have much faith in the muggle way of doing things, and being Lily she would have never guessed that somebody simply didn't like her.

It had been several years since Petunia had seen Severus, but he was still just as snarky and frightening as he was on the first day she met him. Her sister and he were complete opposites, what with Lily's over the top exuberance and nearly blinding persona while her husband to be stood beside her with an expressionless face. She had bright red hair that cascaded in waves down her own back, contrasting with her green eyes perfectly, while the man next to her had straight, black hair and eyes nearly as dark. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their milky white complexion, and even then it looked so very different on the two people. On her sister the skin took on a radiant, angel-like glow while Severus nearly resembled a corpse.

While they were complete opposites, Petunia hated to admit that they fit together perfectly. Like Yin and Yang. They some how brought out the best in each other by just being in the same room. And much to Petunia's annoyance, they received more complements than the happy couple on the day of their wedding. It was then that Petunia decided to distance herself from everyone Evans or Snape, or even anything resembling magic.

She was only slightly saddened when she had her baby boy. Sure it wasn't the girl she had hoped for, but it was the beginning of her happy family.

It was because of everything up to that point that caused her a moment's pause at the sight of the small grey bundle on her doorstep. Her sister had given birth to a girl. Yet another reason she could loath the woman. The only problem was that, according to the letter on the infant's chest, Lily was dead.

Lily left her daughter to her!

Sure, Lily's daughter would probably have the unfortunate luck of being a witch like her mother, but it was nothing that Petunia couldn't handle with a little tough love. She was already the better mother, and daughter seeing as how she had already outlived Lily and her perfect husband. Magic was probably what killed them, and it was obviously what ruined their relationship. How hard would it be, after all, to smother out the small child's magic?

That was, after all, the only way Petunia would be able to keep her little Catherine Snape safe.

~0~

Butterfly's do so much in the world that people often take them for granted. They pollinate lilies, for instance. With out one butterfly, or one pollinated lily, the whole world could change. But how much? Would it be for better, or for worse?

Butterflies fluttered from flower to flower, weaving with bees and dodging the occasional bird or cat that stalked it through the rows. A small red-faced girl sat back and watched the garden in amusement from her spot in the sparse shade of a recently pruned bush. It was obvious by the blotches on her skin that her natural compaction was a much lighter shade of white and she did very poorly in the current heat, but she ignored the stinging of the sunburn on her cheeks and arms to observe her long-time work in action. Her long waves of black hair did little to block the sun's burning rays, but she blended in with the several dark-colored birds that had swooped into her yard to collect the bugs that had gathered. One of which caused her to pause in her moment of unbridled entertainment in confusion. There, with a grasshopper crunched awkwardly in its short beak, was a bird she never suspected she would see in person.

Since when did owls come in such a dark shade of onyx, and what was one doing in her yard in broad day light?

Catherine Snape was always a very small girl. She figured she took after her aunt in that way, but it certainly helped with the fact that she was kept under a constant diet when it came to her weight. She hadn't suspected that her keepers were trying to starve the magic out of her under the pretense that she might be, "Looking a bit soft today." It never struck her as odd that her aunt kept her clothed in the latest fashion, not to dote on her only living relative, but to ensure that she would never be able to join the other kids on the playground. Swing sets and play-sets were strictly forbidden, and the only friend she knew was her cousin, Dudley.

Dudley was never much of a friend, nor was he a very efficient adopted brother. When boys teased her on the playground he usually joined them or was the cause of it in the first place. He always ate her lunches come meal time at school, telling her that it was obvious that she didn't need it. Because of him, she often spent her time in the school yard chased up a tree like a frightened cat. Thankfully, she was scrawny and light enough to reach the higher, sinewy branches while the chubbier kids couldn't get past the dense foliage.

It was because of this that the only time Catherine Snape ever had any time to herself was in her Aunt Petunia's garden. There, she tended to the old lilies, tulips, and daffodils that grew so beautifully. Before she began tending to them the plants were scrawny, much like Petunia herself. Once Catherine began weeding them though, something changed. They became taller, and brighter, and several times she heard them whisper to each other. A climbing rose turned blue at one point, she was sure of it! Sadly, before she could take a picture, or get a clipping, her aunt mowed it over. She seemed clumsy that way.

There was also the incident when a flower turned into a butterfly, but Aunt Petunia promptly squashed her thoughts on the matter along with the bug with her green garden boots, telling her that she must have been out in the sun for too long if she thought a plant turned into a living creature. That night she was sent to bed with no food or water, like many times when her imagination ran away with her and she mistakenly voiced it.

A similar thing happened to the garter snake she had a rather delightful conversation with. They were simply discussing the precipitation and the pesky rabbits that had ruined a lovely patch of morning-glories that she was fond of when Petunia chopped of its head with a shovel and sent her to her room with no food, claiming that she was filling out her clothes a bit too much in the middle. It was then that her Aunt moved her from the second bedroom, which she had let her stay in most likely to keep a better eye on her, to the small cupboard under the stairs. She was locked in the drafty old room promptly at nine every night since, and the issue was never talked about again.

It was because of all of those previous incidents that Catherine immediately leapt up from her position on the grass and ran from the garden as fast as she could. After all, if a talking snake could get her into such trouble along with a butterfly, she hated to know how much trouble an owl would get her into.

The owl obviously had other plans. The moment she went to run to the back door the bird immediately took flight, pecking and clawing at her hair. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from crying out and drawing attention to herself. She was certain that Uncle Vernon was just in the kitchen polishing off the cake they made for her birthday. She never ate a slice, but she always guessed that it was more the thought that counted. They always made it devil's food cake anyway, and that was her least favorite. She also tended to get the video-games that Dudley wanted as gifts, so it simply ended up being his second birthday. Little did they know that the presents to their son was a gift in disguise to her. While his attention was placed on the new game console she didn't have the need to worry about a possible bullying threat.

She ran from the owl, quickly changing directions to the front yard when she remembered where she left the hose earlier that morning. After all, she couldn't barge into the house with a mad owl trying to peck her brains out as if she escaped a Hitchcock film_, _her aunt would have had her head.

In her rush to stop the angry bird in its bombardment she failed to notice two things. Catherine failed to notice the fact that there was a small letter wrapped to the owl's leg, along with the tall, messy, black-haired man watching her from a secluded spot beside a street-lamp where his glasses flashed angrily as he followed her movements across the yard.

He frowned, a nearly permanent scowl that was etched upon his face as he spun on his heel and disappeared with a loud crack. The only person who might have seen him or heard him was currently preoccupied with the overly zealous flapping of birds wings.

Catherine continued to beat back the enormous owl until something dropped to the grass. She decided her best bet was to join the bit of parchment in the grass and play dead in hopes that it would leave her be. After five minutes of waiting and hearing no more shrieks she snatched up the parchment and ran into the house, past her aunt and uncle, and straight into her room under the stairs before tearing the letter open after her curiosity managed to get the better of her.

Curiosity, however, killed the cat. Little did she know that the contents of that letter would change her life forever.

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A friend of mine really wanted me to post this, but I do have a bunch of other stories started. Probably won't update as often as my other stories unless you really want me to. Review if you want a continuation in the future.

I plan on making this as different from the books as possible while still following them loosely, so yeah there will be a bunch of differences presenting themselves. Don't freak out! I have read the books many times.


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